Christmas in April?
2k52 - Friday, May 05, 2006, 6:00 PM ------------------------------------ Repair Bay A well-lighted, sanitized room with a table large enough to fit all but the gestalt-sized Autobots situated in the middle. Assorted repair equipment lies off to the side, many of which have been well kept but unused since the Autobots moved their headquarters elsewhere. Room Contents: Rodimus Prime Obvious exits: Northwest leads to Weapons Control Room . North leads to Corridor . Fireflight has arrived. Fireflight enters the area and looks around. Sideswipe is seated on a bench, cleaning his rifle and humming along to something emiting from internal speakers. Prolly a mite bit out of tune but who's counting. Rodimus Prime enters the repair bay, walking from the direction of the Ark's bridge. He doesn't make any attempt to be particularly stealthy, if he is even capable of such an act -- but he doesn't seem to be trying to draw too much attention to himself, either. He gives Sideswipe a glance but doesn't say anything, instead approaching Sneak Peek's quarantine pod and placing a hand on the window. Fireflight is on a repair table - it appears the most significant damages visible when he made his report about events in Minnesota have been repaired, but the medical staff usually advise some period of rest before returning to full duty. Normally he might be impatient about being cooped up in here, but the place is busy right now and so Fireflight has plenty of things and people to look at in here... generally for a few seconds each before he gets distracted by something or someone else. Sideswipe looks up from his cleaning, gives Rodimus a nod before tracking gaze to the pod. A shake of his head and the red 'bot goes back to cleaning his weapon, still humming off key. "We have to do something about this," Rodimus speaks, finally, lowering his hand from Sneak Peek's pod. "I can't stand just waiting, hoping the medics will have a breakthrough... What if he doesn't have the luxury of waiting?" Rodimus slams one fist into his palm. "I don't know. Maybe none of us do," Fireflight says half to himself. "Have a chance of waiting, that is. The longer it takes to figure out what they've done," he glances at the pod, "the longer the Decepticons have to use whatever it is on anyone they can get hold of, and they were already outnumbering us everywhere the other day." Sideswipe looks up, optics narrowing, frown forming and humming ending, "Find some way t' lure out th' mastermind and pound answers out of him is always an' option, Prime." flat tone, no smile. "I'd gladly give up some time t' help with that. Just a matter of lurin' th' right one out. If I think of a way, I'll speak up." Polish-polish goes the soft cloth across the rifle barrel with absent strokes. "Helps t' know who th' mastermind is though." Frown deepens and the cleaning continues. "There's the usual suspects," Rodimus Prime nearly growls, turning to face Sideswipe and Fireflight. "Shockwave, Soundwave... Scrapper, Arachnae. There are only a handful of Decepticons with the expertise to pull something like this off." Rodimus folds his chrome pipe'd arms over his chest, optics tilting towards the ground in thought. "Maybe Swindle would sell us the information." "He probably would." That thought gets a smile out of Fireflight, at least. "Your method's starting to sound good though, Sideswipe - it was bad enough to see when they were only doing this to their own..." he trails off, looking like for once he regrets having seen something. Sideswipe hrmphs, "Swindle'd sell us Fort Knox complete with deed an' we'd still get nowhere..." Head tilts up, watching Rodimus, "Yeah, usual suspects, Blinky, Blueboy, Soon-to-be-dead-as-a-doornail and his accomplice, Rest-of-short-assed-existence-in-excrutiatin'-pain. Sound's like a real fun party." He lines up his rifle, peering down the barrel before setting it back across his lap, checking the power clip. "Think one of th' affected 'cons'd have a better idea..." Popping the clip back in, "Whoever did it'd have to have worked on them, right? An' they don't seem half as sturdy as they once were." Shudder, masked with a headshake. "Still, th' thought of handlin' one of them gives me static." Afterburner has arrived. Fireflight says, "A lot of them don't even seem to talk, even if they wanted to - and since when have Decepticons ever talked, except to talk scrap at us in a fight?" Moonracer enters from the corridor. Moonracer has arrived. Sideswipe smirks, optics gleaming a cold blue hue, "Oh, y' can learn a lot from a con talkin' scrap. Sometimes they jus' let their mouths run away with'em." Sideswipe is sitting on a bench, cleaning his rifle. and talking... Afterburner shifts and groans, opticsa flickering to life behind fractured lenses flickering to life as the Technobot shuffles off his dorment state. Moonracer steps in not in need of repair more to see how the injured were fairing. Though Moonracer is not a medic she is concerned. She offers a smile to Sideswipe in greeting, her optics settling momentarily on Afterburner who she had carried here from the site last night, he was pretty busted up...but he still belly ached the whole way back. " De ja vu.." she commented in referance to the way her and Afterburner had met, then allowing her optics to move over the other things in the room. Fireflight , sitting on the repair bench, waves a tentative hello to Moonracer. Sideswipe continues with the cleaning of his rifle with absent attention to it. A bobbng of his head as a greeting to Moonracer even as he shifts to look at Afterburner. A shake of his head, "I'd say y' look like hammered slag, Afterburner but I think you're aware of that already." "Should.. see the other mech.." muttered the technobot, a hand going to a exposed shoulder joint and working it a bit, "Didn't think they still made that kindas ugly.. even for a decepticon.." Moonracer looking to Fireflight " Glad to see you made it back okay.." she smiled a bit " You were sounding a bit rough over the com." stepping back some she leaned against the far wall, granted her and Afterburner had butted heads before but he was still a friend to her...even if he was a jerkbot to her. " You doing a little better Afterburner?" she inquired in his direction. Springer has arrived. Sideswipe emits a muffled snort, "They get uglier an uglier an we get better lookin an better lookin'." No smart afted comment made afterwards, what is the world coming to.. "It'd be funny if it wern't so damned true." Sighting down his rifle, aiming it politly at the far wall before setting it back in his lap to fiddle with the sights. Springer steps into the medbay with the strangest look drawn across his features. A kind of odd bemusement mixed with thoughtfulness, which is directed at an object he carries carefully his right hand. It appears to be an etching on a piece of highly polished glass. "Either somebody has their chronometer set a few months ahead, or the Decepticons have made a peace offering." Doesn't sound like he's really sold on either option. Fireflight returns Moonracer's smile. "Yeah, it was a little rough getting back with my wing like that, but it's all fixed now..." Fireflight's gaze turns towards Springer and the thing in his hand. "Hi, Springer. What's that on that mirror?" Afterburner says, " Peace offering?!?" sputtered out the Technobot on the floor, optics suddenly set ablaze, "It's bull, rusted scrap. the only time a 'con calls for peace is when they need to reload" he had intended to answer Moonracer.. but the idea of peace without each and every one of them either in pieces or disarmed.. seemed a bit beyond Afterburner's grasp." Springer holds up the glass etching for all to see. "It was in a box under the Christmas tree." He squints. "It says: Moons Rising over Iacon." Springer carefully places the etching on a nearby shelf for the moment, not wanting to damage it. He addresses the entire room, rather than just one individual. "Scanned it for bugs. No transmissions of any kind coming from it. No hidden compartments, no odd readings of any kind." That wry little smile creeps up on his face, an almost ever-present look for Springer. "Don't worry Afterburner. My guess is the Decepticons aren't going to be sending you chocolate or flowers on Valentine's day either. Just a bit strange to see Christmas gifts in April." Sideswipe peers up as Springer enters, optics narrowing, "Huh? Peace offering my aft. What Afterburner said, they only cry peace when they're about t' hammer ya in the backside or t' let another one do th' same." Gruff snort, rifle getting flipped over in his lap so he can fiddle with something else on it. "What are y' starin at anyhows, Springer?" Curiosity lightening his expression.Sideswipe gets his question answered before he can get it all out, "Huh.." is all he adds. Moonracer she nodded some to Fireflight then went quiet as Springer came in, hmm no answer from Afterburner...eh...can't win em all. She opted to stay quiet and just listen. Keeping against the wall listening. Fireflight gets up from the repair table to get a closer look at the etching, wondering if it's anything more than just a picture... though a Cybertronian landscape is worth looking at anyway. Afterburner's optical ridge lofted upwerds in question, "What the slag's Christmas..?" Springer shakes his head a bit as Afterburner asks a rather obvious question. "Er, sorry. I keep forgetting everyone doesn't keep up with human culture. It's a holiday, celebrated in many nations on Earth in December. They exchange gifts in celebration of the birth of one of their ancestors, and generally spend time with their families." He hmmmmms. "It's kinda like Liberation day, except with less drinking and more....eh, on second thought, Liberation day is close enough." Sideswipe perks up, optics glittering, "Christmas? You get presents! And decorate th' place and have a decent enough party." He blinks, double-takes and looks at Springer, "Christmas tree?" Pause to check his chronometer, "But dude, it's april.. Isn't it?" Pause, "Or did I get hit too hard by th' zombiecons and get offset by 8 months or somethin'?" Ranger pauses at the entrance, as usual, drawn up short by the activity in the room. Moving nervously to one side of the doorway, trying to gauge the situation before he barges in. The last thing he wants to do is to irritate the wounded, after all. Afterburner mutters and grumbles, working his exposed shoulder a few more times for good measure, nodding absently when he was satisfied that it still retained it's full functional array, "It stinks worse then the Dinobot's closet.." muttered Afterburner before looking up once more, optics absently passing to Moonracer, a nod of greeting passing to her.. maybe one of silent thanks too. "You sure it ain't some kinda explosive..?" If it is explosive, Fireflight will be the first to go - he's standing near the shelf where Springer put the etching, looking at it closely with a faint smile on his face... distracted again by a pretty landscape. Moonracer perks her head up at the mention of explosives, that was one of her skills after all. She offered a small smile to Afterburner, then turned her head towards the shelf where the etching was put. " Hmm well it hasn't blown up yet so that's a good sign." she commented. Springer glances around briefly. "There an echo in here?" He grins. "As I said, someone has setup a Christmas tree in the old Command Center. Complete with presents. I've no idea why, but hey, hadta check things out and make sure they weren't explosive devices or some kinda new disguise for Ravage and Soundwave to use ta spy on us." He motions to the etching. "Didn't open any more after that one. Figured it'd be rude, though I'm bettin' Red Alert will have em out in a pit burning in a matter of hours, so just in case anyone else wants some loot, you'd better get it now." He pauses, and shrugs toward Afterburner. "Scans turned up negative. It's just a chunk of glass with a pretty picture." Afterburner must have missed it in all of the talking, he gave a light bump to his audial with the heel of his hand just in case.. hitting it will fix anything! "Tha command center.. here?" he asked aloud more just talking to hear himself speak then anything else, curious and suspicious he slowly got himself to his feet, complete with the groan of a mech with far more miles then he could honestly claim before he made his way towards the corridor, a limp slowing his stride. Ranger raises a hand hesitantly, a single finger extended, and his mouth works for a moment before he actually speaks up. "It's not something the Junkions are doing, is it?" Sideswipe stands up, almost looking like a puppy all over exited about a new shoe to chew, "Command center, presents?" Optics brighten, "Anything for me?" Hopeful look. Moonracer shifted her jaw it soundes a bit off to her. If nothing else she would go and check in out. She nodded quietly then turned to head out. Moonracer leaves to the north. Moonracer has left. Afterburner leaves to the north. Afterburner has left. Fireflight looks startled by the new voice in the room. "Oh, hi, Ranger... did someone say there were more of these in the command center?" Fireflight looks around hopefully for confirmation, and notices Afterburner and Moonracer headed out the door - that's confirmation enough, apparently, as Fireflight moves to follow them. Fireflight leaves to the north. Fireflight has left. Springer shrugs. "No names on the gifts. I just grabbed one at random..." He watches as everyone runs past him to the Command Center. "Primus help us." Moonracer leaves to the north. Moonracer has left. Afterburner leaves to the north. Afterburner has left. Ranger's hand withdraws slowly as he recoils slightly from the rush that stampedes past him out of the med-bay. "Uh- alright then. Would a note of precaution be ignored, then?" Sideswipe wows as everyone rushes out, "Talk about rush hour." He heads towards the command center, "Just wanna go see what the happs is." Really and he's not looking like he wants to get his hands on one of those presents either. Right. "Just t' keep an' optic on th' stampede in case of anythin." Springer turns to Ranger as everyone runs past him. "Words of caution? I've got tons of those, but ya can't stop a Junkion from fixin stuff, can't stop Sunstreaker from waxin his paint job, and ya sure as hell can't keep a curious bot away from prettily-wrapped packages that resemble gifts." Ranger groans as he watches the various 'Bots dash off. "I just hope we don't end up having to drag them back here after this." Sideswipe looks over his shoulder as he's walking, "Well, why dontcha come an look yourself, Ranger. Help keep us all outa trouble, bein a stable and solid sort of bot." Springer turns and heads toward the bridge himself after picking up his etching. "Yeah, better ta have at least a couple of calm Bots around just in case the rest get a little crazy." Repair Bay A well-lighted, sanitized room with a table large enough to fit all but the gestalt-sized Autobots situated in the middle. Assorted repair equipment lies off to the side, many of which have been well kept but unused since the Autobots moved their headquarters elsewhere. Room Contents: Springer Ranger Obvious exits: Northwest leads to Weapons Control Room . North leads to Corridor . Ranger shakes his head, resting one palm on his forehead as he walks after the others. "Fine, but I won't be gentle if I have to carry folks back here." Springer leaves to the north. Springer has left. Ranger leaves to the north. Ranger has left. You move north... Corridor Room Contents: Ranger OOC Note: Read Me Obvious exits: East leads to Communications Room . South leads to Repair Bay . West leads to Weapons Control Room . North leads to Bridge . Ranger enters the bridge. Ranger has left. You enter the bridge. Bridge Room Contents: Ranger Springer Afterburner Fireflight Moonracer OOC Note: Read Me Extended Radio Equipment <5307: Metroplex/Ark> Recharging Station Dinobots Closet Obvious exits: East leads to Storage Room . South leads to Corridor . Southeast leads to Cavernous Entrance. West leads to Lab . OOC Note: Read Me Welcome to April Fools Day. You might be seeing this several ic days later but here's to saying that folks might not notice things right off. This little note is to inform you that if you're one of the aware, or if several days have passed icly since 4.1 or if you just haven't been in the bridge very often, you might notice a fully decorated Christmas tree complete with lights, tinsel and more lights sitting in the ripped out section of wall where Teletran One once was. The lights extend to the Stalagmites that drip down from the ceiling, garland festooned in great swaths overhead. And to complete the picturesque flash-forward to the holiday that's months away are presents. Lots of them stacked under the tree and fairly filling the gaping wound in the wall. All with bright bows, ribbons but lacking one single item, a name tag. None of them have name tags and they range in size from large as a cassette-bot to palm sized. The paper's an amalgam of comic strips from newspaper Sunday funnies to actual holiday wrap wishing everyone various seasonal tidings. There does, at first glance, seem to be enough packages for every active Autobot currently stuck in the Ol' Ark. Oddly enough. Again, participation is optional, please page/mail Arachnae if you do anything to the presents, the tinsel or the tree for what happens. Dun dun dun.... Sideswipe strolls in, looking around with optics that slowly go from curious to wide. "Wow.." is all the resident red lambor has to say. Springer shrugs, yet again. "See, I told you. A friggin Christmas tree." He motions toward the decorations. "Complete with gifts." Moonracer looks to Afterburner shaking her head " No. if it was intended for me then my name would be on it... this all seems odd to me." she stepped back some odd to her but that wouldn't keep her from watching the expressions of the more daring bots who would indulge in the stuff here. Ranger remains close to the door- not, this time, because of his awkwardness about the higher ranks or more unfamiliar bots, but... well, due to paranoia really. "No, not the Junkions, they'd know when this was meant to be done, right?" "So you just pick one and open it?" Fireflight doesn't look up, as he's examining the package closely - maybe admiring the big gold bow on top, or maybe just figuring out how to open it without damaging whatever might be inside. Afterburner nods in agreement with Fireflight, "Not everything's gona be nice and laid out for you, Moonracer.." adds the Technobot as he limps forwerd and reaches down, slow to bend as he collects a fair sized gift from the pile and sends it sailing through the air towards Moonracer, "Gotta take a chance, reach out and grab things for yourself.." Sideswipe huhs, entranced by the twinkling lights on the stalagmites above, "Now ain't this pretty." Bemused smile before he looks over to see Afterburner winging a box at Moonracer, "Hey now, this isn't th' place to be throwin 'slag around. Have some slaggin' respect." Springer moves up further into the room, offering the glass etching to Moonracer. "Happy Creation Day." He says with his usual charm, before turning to regard the other gifts. "Junkions don't wrap gifts so neatly Ranger. Songbird has sent many a gift to me and to Arcee, and none of them are ever wrapped so nicely." Ranger shoots a look from Moonracer, to the tree, to the parcels, to Afterburner and, despite not being asked his opinion, offers it anyway. "Personally, I'll be happy to indulge... once Red Alert's had a good sniff at these things." Paranoid? Well... perhaps a little. Unfamiliar surroundings and happenings and all that. Moonracer caught the box lopped at her " That isn't reaching out and grabbing things myself if you toss them at me....besides I have no real reason to accept a gift..." she leaned down gently placing the box back with the others, her optics flickering to Springer as he offered the etching " Thank you. but..." she began looking closer at the etching now in her hand. Fireflight falters a bit in his unwrapping efforts as he stops to listen to the others' conversation. "Red Alert'll take ages to check these things... if he doesn't just blast them all." The Aerialbot then returns to opening the cardboard box in his hands, his efforts somewhat hampered by the fact that he's still also holding onto the bow and the glittery gift wrap. Afterburner gives a venting snort of contempt at the notion of having to wait till some big head peered over them, Sideswipe only received a rude hand gesture, something Afterburner had seen on the highway once when he cut too close to a terran motorist "Y'stand back and wait for that jumble of neural-wireing and y'ain't gonna get nothin." predicted the Technobot as he himself claimed a package, to his credit he didn't go digging through the pile for the biggest one, just laid optic on one that he thought looked right and grabbed it up. Sideswipe knows what that rude gesture means and starts to say something before, "Not worth it.." muttering to himself. He trundles over and plucks a box out of the stack, turning it over in his hands, "Looks like a girl wrapped it." Giving the bow a flick of a finger, "All pretty and neat and all." Ranger fixes his gaze on Afterburner, a slightly incredulous look on his face. "Depends on what you're willing to get, really," he finally mumbles, "an explosion in the face isn't my idea of a good thing." Springer admires the glass etching one last time after handing it over to Moonracer and then turns back toward the tree. "It's true, Red Alert will be coming over those boxes from now until Christmas gets here." He moves over toward the nearest wall and reclines against it. "I opened mine already, save the rest for those who want em." He motions to the pile of wrapping paper that was already on the floor from his opened gift. Moonracer held up the etching smiling to her self then threw the glass she spotted the distorted images of Fireflight bobbling around with the box, she giggled then moved the glass around then focused on Springer. Threw the glass another giggle from her face plate. She set the glass aside " You're very thoughtful Springer thank you.." she then walked over to Fireflight " do you want me to hold that so you can open the box..." she pointed to the gift wrap and bow Fireflight got a Decepticon in the face the other day - this can't be worse than that, right? "Oh, thanks." With Moonracer holding the wrap and bow, Fireflight has a much easier time getting all the tape off that box and finally gently lifts one piece of cardboard... Fireflight opens a box. Present! - Gift certificate for Pitcher of energon at the Rusty Angel Afterburner wasn't quite so..cautious, "You always worry about stuff blowing up in yer face?" questioned Afterburner as he ripped and tore away wrapping paper, no need to saveit, rippin' is what it's there for! he tugged sharply at the flaps of the box, breaking the sealing tape and tearing cardboard in the process, the packaging wasn't pretty when he finaly opened it.. but he wasn't exactly interested in the packaging. Afterburner opens a box. Present! - Gift certificate for Pitcher of energon at the Rusty Angel Ranger's gaze flickers across those in the room, those opening and having opened gifts, with a worried frown. "Yeah well... rather be paranoid than dead any day," he mutters quietly to himself, not caring if Afterburner hears or not. Seems his worry is unjustified though, as more gifts get opened without wanton destruction resulting. Sideswipe starts unwrapping his, pausing to read the funnies on the paper that's covering the box, "Heh, man I love Peanuts.." Moonracer still holding the wrapping and bow she eyes the bow then gets an idea, stepping to the side of Fireflight she sticks the bow on the top of his head using the adhesive left on the bow, she grins rather proud of her self. Fireflight grins as he shows the others what he got - and Moonracer sticks the bow on his head. "Not quite as pretty as that etching, but it's useful! Do we get to keep the rest of this stuff too?" (He looks a little worried, though, when Sideswipe mentions loving peanuts - aren't those the little foam things that end up in weird and sometimes uncomfortable places after Sideswipe gets hold of them?) Afterburner's features twist into a crooked grin, wanton destructive results, yeah, that's just what might happen after Afterburner and a few other Technobots made good use of this one, "Gonna keep this safe.." he chuckled to himself, a panel opening on his arm, thankfuly it had been spared by the plasma barrage. He snapped it closed once he had secreted away the certificate and gave it a affectionate patting. 'Safe', as far as Ranger is concerned, doesn't involve opening unexplained parcels, you guys have fun while you can. ;) Red Alert has arrived. Sideswipe reads as he unwraps, sticking the bow to his shoulder with a goofy grin. "Man, wish Sunny were here. Just t' bitch an moan cause the wrapping clashes with his finish." He pops the tape on his box, pauses, "Don't see why not." in answer to Fireflight and opens it, peering inside. Sideswipe opens a box. Prank! - Confetti Explosion Sideswipe yips, "ACK_FFF.. what th?!" Fireflight laughs as he carefully stows his gift certificate, glittery wrapping paper, and the bow from atop his head, "Is that part of the Earth tradition too?" Moonracer jumps at the sound from the confetti and Sideswipes voice in the surprise she spun and had her gun drawn " What the slag?!" yelled Moonracer who currently was as jumpy as a long tailed cat in a rocking chair factory. Afterburner let out a barking laughter, almost doubling over, it was perfect, the exact bot he'd love to see have something blow up in his face. The Technobot braced himself up with his hands on his knees and continued to howl "Red got it right in the face!!" Okay, Ranger's willinng to believe it's just some sort of harmless fun. Of course, he's still not quite willing to participate. Confetti today, napalm tomorrow, or something like that. Therefore he continues to watch with caution from the doorway. Red Alert walks into the area, hearing a PUFF of confetti explodes. He looks up from his datapad to see the tree and then the confetti. His optics go wide, blinking several times as his internal sensors rev up. His mind races, going through every single security risk that this entire scenario poses. His brain moves quicker than most, especially on things like this. He starts to blubber a bit and finally gets out a sentence, "What in the name of Unicrons left aftplate is going on in here?! Who authorized this madness? What in the...why the...RAAAAAAH!" Sideswipe stares into the now mostly empty box as confetti drifts lazily around him like snow flakes, settling on him like deranged dandruff. "Man.. that wasn't what I expected." giving the inside of the box a hopeful swipe of a hand, "Awwww." Shaking the box upside down and only getting some leftover drifts. "Awwww..." Sad face before looking at Afterburner, "Hey now, this ain't funny." Lips twitching a bit, "I mean, You got somethin, I got.." looking at the mess, "Suppose I could scoop it up and save it for someone's creation day or somethin.." Smirk before he chuckles, "Alright, maybe a little funny." Moonracer optics float to Red Alert her gun still pointed at that menacing confetti box, " it blew up!" Moonracer said in her "indoor" voice though she was not calmed at all that it was just confetti, " It's a trap! What if its some kind of viral infection!" her voice rising a few octives and you thought Ranger was paranoid. Though after her run in with Chimera and the conversation she had with Elita after...anything strange seemed to set her into this mind set. Fireflight looks at all the other 'bots in the room, not focusing on anyone in particular... not for more than a second or two, at least. Red Alert shudders a bit, trying to keep himself under control. He's really trying. He mutters "Nnnnghhhhh. Nnnnghhhhh. Nnnnghhhh. Deep breaths Red, deep breaths. Unicorns. Daisies... Slag like that..." he looks up and takes one deep breath, speaking very slowly, "Someone please tell me what in the name of Unicron all this is? Hmmmm? Who put these here?" he waves to the presents, "Who put THAT security nightmare here?" he points at the tree, "And who in the slag said you could do this? REALLY! You all expect me to keep the environment secure and you go and pull idiotic stunts like this. Especially with Metroplex still out of action! " Yup, he isn't having a good day. Of course after having to completely rewire three security grids and two security scanners, who would be having a good day? "Do you know how many viruses and listening devices that the Decepticons could put in that stuff? Are Moonracer and I the ONLY ONES that aren't at the mental equivalence level of a terran rodent?! Mother of primus! You're killin me here. Killin me!" Ranger continues to keep his distance from the tree and gifts, watching them warily as he thinks. "Right. There'll doubtless be cameras and sensors set up to detect stuff like this occurring, right? So we can see who did it?" Afterburner's laughter is just begining to die away, a arm wrapped over his mid-section as he straightens himself up and wipes a bit of optic lense fluid away from a cracked lense, "Fraggin great.." chuckled the Technobot, his good mood and mirth barely scratched by the railings of Red Alert, "Eh keep yer armor on, Springer already said that he'd gone over 'em!" retorted Afterburner, absent questions of whether or not Springer had just scanned his.. or if he had scanned them all passing through his processor. He limped over and clapped the red lambor on the back, "Funniest thing I've seen in deca-cycles.." he comments and produces the certificate he had gotten with his own gift, "Here.. seein that look on your face.. it's the best thing I've ever gotten." Sideswipe looks over to Mr Spazztastic himself, gives a shake of his head and holds the empty box out, "Dude, it's just a present. Sortof backafted this one was but it's just a box for bootin' up cold." Another shake of his head before sideways glancing at Afterburner, lips twitching as he tries to restrain a grin, "Bet it was pretty damned funny." Box gets set down, "Besides, what he said, Springer said he went over'em already before he opened his up." Giving the boxes another look, "So many boxes,..." trailing off before looking back to Afterburner, "Nah man, can't take your certificate. You opened a box, you got it fair n square. 'Sides, how about ya just let me have a glass of that pitcher an we both can have a good laugh, eh?" Moonracer put her gun away and still was not happy, convinced there were now billions of nanobots in the air that were infecting everyone in the room as they spoke tiny little nanobots gnawing and chewing on wires and micro chips, her optics were wide she stepped over to Red Alert convinced the rest of em were nuts. " Do I look rusty? Are my optics dimmer than usual?" the vision of tiny bots chewing on micro chips in their heads prominent in her mind. How could they be sure Springer went over every single box in here? Red Alert just blinks three times at the two responses. "Oh Springer went over them, did he? And we all know how ingenious Springer is at security scanning, don't we? Yes. A frontline battle commander, great security expert." he about blows a gasket, "Do you have any idea how intricate the art of security is?! How do you know that one of those boxes confetti isn't carrying a decepticon virus? Or a microscopic tracking nanobot? How do you know that tree isn't rigged with undetectable by scanning organic explosives?! That's right, they exist there geniustrons! GRAH!" he looks to Ranger, attitude changing completely to a more calm one as he answers something related to his craft, normally...yes. But we had to take a few grids down for a while today to repair them. We had manual guards posted...but they can be unreliable." he shakes his head at Moonracer, "You look fine...but you'd probably best run a full self diagnostic. Be sure." "Well, medical wanted to run another diagnostic on me anyway to make sure I was all right to fly again after that battle." Fireflight grimaces a bit before continuing, "I guess I'd better go get myself scanned, huh?" Ranger nods thoughtfully at what Red Alert has to say. "But how long has this been here? If it's longer than just today, then the security system might provide some insight, might it not?" Sideswipe hrmphs, "Yeah yeah yeah, You wanna escourt us all back to medical Mr. Nanny bot?" He shakes his head, "You're the Sec expert, an I think we'd notice a bevy of 'Cons sneakin in with a frackin christmas tree and a thunderin herd of presents now wouldn't we?" Alright, so Sidewsipe was a alright mech, Afterburner could get along with him alright he supposed, guy could take a joke pretty well, better then the Technobot, that's for sure. He nodded "A deal then.." he aggreed with Sideswipe, returning the gift to his arm compartment. "If the 'cons could get this deep into our territory, d'you think they'd just set up this ? It's impractical! A good sized charged would be enough to bring this entire mountain down on us" added Afterburner. Red Alert growls, "It's entirely possible, especially with rotating grids out over the past couple of days." he looks to Ranger, "So yes, they've been rotating on and off for several days, that's why I had to rewire them all today." he shakes his head, "It's very easy to put temp cloaking devices with 2 hour batteries on something and put it in here. Especially with some of the DCI guys they have there, jerky. And no, that's harder, Jerky #2. That is detectable by scanning equipment, even minor scanning equipment, once it gets armed. And you can't make organic explosives large enough to damage something larger than a single transformer." he shakes his head, "All right kids. Nanny is taking you all down to medical. Remember, form a single file line and no running..." Sideswipe looks at Afterburner, "You Jerky or jerky#2" Slag eating grin, "Cause I'm not sure who he's talkin to..." "You guys are too naive in this time of war.." Moonracer commented " We are not in a safety bubble here! It only takes one bad charge to ruin a good Autobot." she shook her head grumbling. <'Autobot'> Security Chief Red Alert says, "Sideswipe....did I ever tell you about my new scanning device? Oh yeah. It's really cool. You see, it scans you...but it also shuts down your vocalizer for three days. See...everytime you try to talk during that three days, you go into spasms. I was thinking about a good test subject...and the color red is looking really good right now. Your exact shade..." <'Autobot'> Sideswipe says, "Funny, red, you have th' same shade on ya." <'Autobot'> Security Chief Red Alert says, "Kind of, but I got the whole white thing going on too. I'm really liking this pure red paint kind of idea. You know, that real pretty full red." <'Autobot'> Sideswipe says, "Can always lend ya some of it if you ever wanna change your color scheme. Look good on y' too." <'Autobot'> Security Chief Red Alert says, "Or...you could just shut up. I mean, that works too." Ranger's mouth works silently for a moment, before sighing and giving up any thoughts of objection. He's hoping to become a medical student after all, so this doesn't really harm his personal interests. "Look who's tellin' who about war.." answered back Afterburner, arms crossing over his stocky chest as he peered over at Sideswipe, I'll take Jerky.. he's just slaggin' lucky I need a fixin' anyway.." <'Autobot'> Dynamo says, "...Okay. Hey, boss, have you got any new standing orders for me?" <'Autobot'> Security Chief Red Alert says, "Well...yes. Yes I do. We do have this little security problem. See, there is a huge amount of presents and a pine tree in the Ark that weren't cleared through security. Apparently some of them blow up with possible contaminants. A thorough and KNOWLEDGABLE scan, preferably not done by Springer, would be great." Sideswipe shrugs, "Jerky#2 it is then." Flashing a big ol merry grin Red Alerts way. "Now I can see th' paranoid, but th' callin of names is uncalled for, Red. Just calm down an' we'll all trot to medical and find out that nothin's wrong and y' can go chew up somethin' else lookin for th' boogiecon t' come grabbin atcha." <'Autobot'> Sideswipe says, "A Christmas tree and presents." <'Autobot'> Sideswipe says, "Details, Red, details. Oh, an garlan., and lights an tinsel.." <'Autobot'> Security Chief Red Alert says, "And what is a pine tree, Sideswipe?" <'Autobot'> Sideswipe says, "Pine trees are nice." <'Autobot'> Afterburner says, "And green." <'Autobot'> Dynamo says, "I'll take care of it, boss." <'Autobot'> Security Chief Red Alert says, "Thank you." <'Autobot'> Sideswipe says, "Sortof sticky if you nail'em though." <'Autobot'> Security Chief Red Alert sighs, "You're killin me here." <'Autobot'> Afterburner says, "Yeah.. needles are kinda annoyin' too.." <'Autobot'> Sideswipe says, "I'll find your sense of humor one day, Red, if it kills me, I swear I'll find it." <'Autobot'> Sideswipe says, "Smell good though." Moonracer flicked her optics to Afterburner " I'm also not the one who tore into strange packages left in here with no names on them putting myself and everyone on this ark in danger now am I..... Jerky.." she looked to the christmas tree, " My processor hurts.." she lifted her hand to her head. Red Alert waves his hands, "Good. Then by all means, after you." He starts to slowly saunter towards the exit, humming to himself. He is about to step into the corridor behind his "friends" He does so and his optics suddenly go wide. If a transformer could go pale, Red would. "Mother of...." <'Autobot'> Security Chief Red Alert says, "I have a great sense of humor. Ask Scattershot. Just not when it comes to....MOTHER OF GOD!" <'Autobot'> Moonracer says, "Mother of God is funny?" <'Autobot'> Sideswipe says, "Who-whaaa?" <'Autobot'> Ranger says, "Who of what? What?" Dynamo enters from the south. Dynamo has arrived. Sideswipe allows himself to be good naturedly herded into the corridor. You walk down the dimly lit corridor to see what you can see. Corridor Room Contents: OOC Note: Read Me Obvious exits: East leads to Communications Room . South leads to Repair Bay . West leads to Weapons Control Room . North leads to Bridge . Red Alert walks in from the bridge. Red Alert has arrived. <'Autobot'> Sideswipe says, "Ook." Afterburner walks in from the bridge. Afterburner has arrived. Dynamo walks in from the bridge. Dynamo has arrived. Moonracer walks in from the bridge. Moonracer has arrived. OOC Note: Read Me Welcome to April Fools Day. You might be seeing this several ic days later but here's to saying that folks might not notice the small things. This little note is to inform you that if you're one of the aware, or if several days have passed icly since 4.1 you'll notice roughly 150 balloons hovering in the corridor. They started out high against the ceiling but as days pass they've drifted lower and lower. Should you swat, grab, step, shoo, swish or otherwise mess with them, they will pop. Glitter, sticky and shiny, mixed with water soluable glue will shower outwards. You have the option of ignoring this message or playing along. Happy April Fools Day! If you do participate, please let 'Nae know so she can pick the sign up. Thank you! Afterburner walks in from the bridge. Afterburner has arrived. Dynamo comes in through the comm-room door, and pauses. "What the..." Hesitantly, he looks up and down the corridor. Sideswipe steps into the corridor from the bridge, shaking confetti off of his shoulders as he walks before stopping short, "OOk." Red Alert walks into the area, seeing the balloons. His optics go wide. He tries to speak several times, but can't. "Security...." his optics flicker several times. "My grid. My beautiful grid....violated like a prom date..." he learned that one from a terran movie with some teenagers the other night. Damn human outreach programs. "Why? Why do they do this to me?"....his really starts to shake and his head starts tofizzle before he speaks into his radio and then falls straight back, optics going dark and smoke coming from his head. He has strong life signs though. <'Autobot'> Security Chief Red Alert says, "Balloons...too many...balloons...security threat...unscanned...Decepticon Monitoring...Unicorns...Daisies...*sound of circuits sizzling* Dynamo...watch the grid...Focker, OUT! *conk*" <'Autobot'> Dynamo sighs. Dynamo looks back up and down the corridor again, as Red Alert hits the floor. "Someone cart him off so he can recover, please." He frowns, studying the balloons for a moment, before sheathing himself in an forcefield. "No point in not taking some precautions," he admits. We have a terrorist amoung us..." Moonracer states eyeing the balloons .." Red!" she stepped over crouching " Wake up !" she shook his shoulder then looked to Dynamo and the others " Nano...bots!" she is no medic she knows no better. Afterburner clomps in, uneven steps following the previous trio, his progress coming to a halt once he spots the low hanging balloons "What tha...?" uttered the Technobot, eyeing the long stretch of hallway and the downed Red Alert. "I'll grab a leg if you grab one.." he offered to Sideswipe. Sideswipe's optics widen as Red Alert has one of those 'moment's' most bots don't really want to see him have. It's just not right. "Eh.. Ahh slagnabit!" he makes a dive to try and keep head of security from nailing the floor when he falls over. "Come on Red, Snap out of it, just balloons. Nothin' wrong with balloons... They float an do other stupid slag. See? I'll just knock'em out of th' way and we'll have nothin' t' worry about. Just a sack filled with somethin lighter than air." ANd ends up just shy of the white and red bot, wincing as he clangs into the ground, "Eh.. Prolly a good idea t' get him someplace where he can't see these things..." They float. They all float. And when you're down here, you'll float too. Dynamo studies the balloons floating for a minute, before reaching out to encapsulate one in a glittering magnetic field. The unstable little balloon, of course, pops -- coating the interior of the force-bubble with glue and glitter. He blinks, then looks at Moonracer. "I don't suppose this is your handiwork?" Moonracer optics lift to Dynamo..." No..It wasn't me...though it is a good idea..." makes note for future reference. Red Alert starts to shake his head, waking up. "What? Huh? Unicorns? Daisies? What the..." he looks up and his optics go wide "AHHHHHHHHHHHH!" he rises quickly, backing against the wall. "I...I need some air. We'll just pretend I never saw this and you people will take care of it, right? RIGHT?!" Sideswipe does his best to shield Red's field of vision and spare him the balloons, "It'll get taken care of, Red." soothing tone and serious. "Why don't you go outside an' get some air and check th' stars out. Relax a bit." Afterburner eyed Dynamo's experiment, his own optics turning to one of the nearby bags of lighter then air gass, "I dunno, Red Alert, what about that grid of yers..?" he asked tauntingly befor reaching out and delivering a light poke to one of the balloons, it bobbed happily for a moment and then.. popped, altering his paint scheme with it's own little dazzling splash. Red Alert cringes greatly at the explosion! " AH! Poison! Get it away! Decepticon tricks!" he sighs, "I need some rest." he points at Afterburner, "And you....oh you....you I'll deal with later. You're going to learn about "Big Brother"." he just shakes his head and starts to walk out, trying to figure out which Decepticon or Autobot traitor did this. And he WILL find out. Don't you worry about that. "Dynamo...you're doing a fantastic job. Please try to make our base secure again. I fixed all the grids today. This obviously happened when they were down." he heads towards the outside. Dynamo nods in agreement with Sideswipe. "Yeah, boss, go... uh, recalibrate the lock to your office." He shakes his head amusedly at Afterburner. "Nice paintjob there, slick. Scattershot'll love how you color coordinate when he calls for Computron." He roils the mixture around in his magnetic field, watching how it adheres. "I don't think it's permanent, though..." Sideswipe shakes his head, eying the bobbing round things with some distaste. "Confetti I can handle. Sticky lookin' slag that's gonna mess my paint job up.. No way." Grimace.. "But they are between here and medical." He straightens his shoulders before getting a wicked gleam to his optics.. "Well, only one thing t' do about this..." The flexing of fingers, "Be a big mech an' take'em all out." He transforms, revving his engine up, "Hey Afterburner, wanna see how many y' can tag? Betcha I can get more than you!" As if leaping for the ground, Sideswipe's frame twists and bends until a Red Lamborghini Countach LP500S forms, engine already rumbling. " No no No No no!" she certainly didn't want that crud all over her...she stepped towards Dynamo " Let me in!" she gave him puppy bot eyes Afterburner had luckily replaced his tire by himself and refueled his rocket pods, "Yer on Red.." replied the Technobot, he already had a nice coating of it, and he'd been challanged, no need to throw a hissy fit about getting dirty, he already looked half scrapped. Soon he too was on wheel rather then foot, engines growling and rocket boosters whining in ready. "When ever yer ready..." Afterburner jumps up into the air and quickly begins to transform, his body twisting and shifting until a orange and grey techno-cycle lands where he once stood. Dynamo immediately reformats his force-shield to cover both himself and Moonracer. "Just remember, you two get to clean it up," he says, giving Sideswipe and Afterburner a sardonic look. Red Lamborghini Countach LP500S chuckles over the revving of his engine, "We *are* cleanin' it up. Or should we jus' leav'em here for someone else t' get tagged?" Techno-cycle says, "Yeah, doin our duty to our fellow bots." Moonracer says, " They are crazy. This stuff could rot their paint right off.." Dynamo shakes his head. "Just... let it go, Moony. You have to let people make their mistakes on their own." Red Lamborghini Countach LP500S adds, "An' havin some fun while doin' it since we all know that Red'll assign us t' clean up anyways since he named us jerky and jerky2. Might as well get it over with before he has another flakeout." He revs his engine before rolling forward, aiming his hood at a drifting knot of balloons. Can't go too fast, the corridor isn't the best. "Some bots just don't know what fun is anymore.. wimps." claims Afterburner before he too set into motion, wheels propelling him forward into a few stray clumps, he had a bit more giddyup in his get along.. seeing as how as he just rolled right up the wall and kept on going.. sticky wheels, a must for any hot headed cycle-transformer.